Film Review: RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION (2012)

Writer/Director: Paul W.S. Anderson
Running time: 92 mins (approx)
Certification (UK): 15

Genre: Action/Horror/Sci-Fi
UK Release date: 28^th September 2012

Watched on Sky+ Saturday 1^st June 2013.

PLEASE NOTE: THERE MAY BE UNINTENTIONAL SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW.

Most of the time I watch films with a very critical eye; looking for what’s good, bad or even ugly. But just very occasionally I just go with it and see where it takes me. Now, having seen all the previous ‘Resident Evil’ films I knew this one wasn’t going to scale any artistic heights and so decided to just look at it purely from an entertainment perspective. I’ll give you my thoughts after this very brief summary.

Alice (Milla Jovovich) finds herself back in the hands of the Umbrella Corporation. They are keeping her in a facility in northern Russia; a former cold war submarine base. In charge of her interrogation is Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory), but someone there is helping Alice escape. The security grid is turned off and she gets out of her cell. She is eventually met by Ada Wong (Bingbing Li), an agent working for the mysterious Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts). Alice had come across him before. A team has been sent to meet them and take them out but they have to fight their way across several ‘zones’ before they reach their goal.

Very heavy on the CGI, which is all very well done by the way, I’m guessing a lot of green paint was used. I think just about every fight sequence was shot in slow motion; I’m not sure why but for me it didn’t add any excitement. Nobody will win any prizes for the performances, although I thought Michelle Rodriguez as Rain did a pretty good job. Okay, from an entertainment perspective, yes, it did its job; an easy to follow plot that has plenty of action and some very pretty ladies; this red blooded male was not disappointed on that front. On the down side; it does look like you’re watching someone else playing a first person shooter video game. It’s left wide open for another sequel (hopefully the last one), so I guess there will be more… And I will be watching.

SteelMonster’s verdict: RECOMMENDED (Purely for entertainment… If this is your sort of thing that is…)

My score: 5.7/10.

IMDb Score: 5.2/10 (based on 63,772 votes when this review was written).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1855325/

MetaScore: 39/100: (Based on 17 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Tomatometer’ Score: 30/100 (based on 63 reviews counted at the time of going to press).

Rotten Tomatoes ‘Audience’ Score: 51/100 (based on 234,696 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/resident_evil_retribution/

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LINKS:
(Note: All were working at the time of going to press)
Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/residentevil
Official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ResidentEvilMovie
Official Site: http://www.residentevil-movie.com/
Trailer: